K-Mart (2016 Version)
by BlackShadowHorse
Summary: Join Dahlia Elizabeth Spencer-Case on her journey to becoming K-Mart, and then follow her as she becomes a part of the convoy, leaving behind all she's ever known on her quest to survive in a kill or be killed world. Watch friendships and love blossom between some familiar and dear characters we all know and love. Rated 'M' for Mature audiences for later chapters. Not Beta Read.
1. Time Line

-Basic Background Information-

~Timothy Case: Timothy Case, father to Dahlia Elizabeth Spencer-Case. Position(s) at Umbrella Corp: CEO, Director of Risk Assessment and Director of Acquisitions. Age at outbreak: 51

~Amelia Spencer-Case (Amy): Oswell Spencer daughter and one of the heirs to Umbrella Corporation. Position at Umbrella Corp: CEO. Age at outbreak: 48

~Dahlia Elizabeth Spencer-Case: Grand-Daughter of Oswell Spencer, and Daughter of Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer-Case. Is the owner and face behind the Spencer-Case family's small dog kennel. Age at outbreak: 16

~Joseph Murry: Ex-Umbrella Employee- had been part of a rapid response team, injured in line of work during a 'code black' viral outbreak (escape of mutated animal infected with BioHazard). Currently employed as all around handy man and body guard to Dahlia Elizabeth Spencer-Case. Is also in charge of Dahlia's two horses, and helps with the family's small kennel.

~Betty Murry: Wife of Joseph Murry. Employed by the Spencer-Case family to tend to the family's estate in terms of cooking, general house work, is in charge of the family's small kennel (taking care of and cleaning up after the dogs).

This next part is just a timeline that I've thought up for the family (from the time Dahlia's (KMart) father joins up with Umbrella to the early morning phone call he gets for a code red, with all direct support personal required to attend.

-Parents Timeline Up to News of Outbreak-

\- Timothy Case graduates high school age 16, and is accepted in Umbrella Corp's internship program where he works closely with Albert Wesker.

-Timothy Case at age 18 is introduced to Oswell Spencer by Albert Wesker, and receives promotion, and keeps moving up the ranks.

-Timothy Case at age 23 becomes the youngest Deputy Director in Umbrella Corps' history, and is introduced to Amelia Spencer age 20 (daughter of Oswell Spencer).

-Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer get engaged! Ages 28 and 25.

-Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer are married, Ages 30 and 27 in the biggest event of the year with over 300 guests in attendance.

\- Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer-Case are both promoted to CEOs, and are bringing in over 1.5 million dollars a year (combined income), also supplemented by Amelia's Trust Fund. Ages 33 and 30.

-Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer-Case announce the birth of their daughter, and joint heir to Umbrella Corporation: Dahlia Elizabeth Spencer-Case 7 lbs, 6 oz. Ages 36 and 33.

-Dahlia kidnapped- Timothy Case, Amelia Spencer-Case, and Oswell Spencer hire former Umbrella employee Joseph Murry as Dahlia's body guard after paying ransom. Psychiatric Service dog purchased for Dahlia to help with her anxiety- stable and kennel established on large, sprawling, fenced in and secure Spencer-Case estate, purchased by Oswell Spencer for his granddaughters safety soon after kidnapping. Ages: 43, 40, and 7.

\- Normal Life Milestones-

-Timothy Case and Amelia Spencer Case receive phone calls, multiple alerts and even have drivers sent for them. Code Red. Viral Weaponry Escape from Compound. Ages: 51, 48, and 16.

AN: I've been watching Resident Evil and I'm FINALLY to the point where we're meeting KMart (I will admit to getting super excited to seeing her!). Going back to reading my previous story, K-Mart, I had so many questions that I was asking myself. We don't know much about K-Mart. She's a blank slate. She could be almost anyone, do almost anything. People had asked me before (now that I'm getting to more emails (2900+ left to sort) how Angie had tied into the story, and well.. I think some of you can now see how Ms. Ashford ties in with K if you've read Timothy's position at Umbrella Corp. Director of Acquisitions? Something tells me 'acquisitions' weren't always handled smoothly, especially in the case of Dr. Ashford where they'd taken the T-Virus from him, and I'm assuming they probably even forced him to work for the company.

I will admit most of the first chapter will cover some of the events from the timeline, and will be mostly spent going over how the T-Virus escaped, what they could try and do to contain the virus (ie events in Apocalypse), what happened to K's parents, and most importantly, why did K leave such a secure compound behind? How did she end up in the KMart?

Work picks up again pretty heavily the 20th, but I will do my best to update ACTUAL chapters not just fillers and fluff- where I'll work some pretty long hours, but I'm having so much fun toying around with some of these ideas that I'll try to set aside at least 30 minutes per day to write.

The story, KMart after a good (12 hours spent contemplating the fate of the story) will most likely end up getting absorbed into this one, some of the 'fillers' removed, some more edited into the chapters. I wanted to give you sort of a look into the parents, and the 'money' she came from. I am a little rusty as I haven't written one writing piece (even a drabble) since I last updated nearly two years ago- so I hope you'll bear with me!

Anyway if this would interest any of you, me continuing this story that is, let me know!

~BSH


	2. Chapter One

K-Mart Revised (2016 Version)

Chapter One:

Timothy Case stood in front of the sink, his hands in the soapy water as he scrubbed at the frying pan. He'd attempted to cook breakfast for his wife, Amelia and daughter Dahlia, something that they indulged him in, even though the results were nearly always the same. Something black, inedible or even worse: something completely unrecognizable, and the family would have what they always did on Sundays: fruit salad, toast, and the beverage of their choice.

Dahlia peeked over the edge of her laptop, setting her toast on the china, watching her father as he stared out the window in an almost absent minded manner, watching as one of Dahlia's horses, Sunny, grazed in the field just past the backyard. "Dad, why do you always try cooking on Sunday? You know you're not very good at it." She stated the obvious, licking the pad of her thumb which had come back covered in butter from setting it down. After years of his attempts, she'd finally found the courage to ask her father that question- after all, wasn't that what he'd hired Betty to do for them?

Timothy leaned on his forearms on the kitchen counter after drying his hands on the dishtowel laying on the sink board. "Your mother and I work long hours at Umbrella." Timothy said softly. "Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on big sections of your life Dahlia with the time spent at the office. Sure Sundays are a disaster when I cook, but it's something that we attempt together, it's time that I cherish. Just like when you and your mother go to the spa on Saturday to spend time together."

He leaned over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "How about we take one or two of the dogs for a walk, or go for a ride on the horses? You can take a break from your summer school assignments, you've been working diligently upon them, and a few hours away wouldn't hurt either of us." Dahlia beamed and quickly closed the lid on her computer.

"I'll go get my boots Daddy!" Dahlia said, the bar stool chair spinning around as she turned in excitement, bolting for the doorway to retrieve a pair of boots.

"Slow down Dahlia!" Amelia laughed softly as her daughter ran past, kissing her husband on the cheek lightly. "Where's she running off to?"

"I told her to take the morning off," Timothy admitted. "With everyone working double time on the Regenerate program, our hours and work load are soon to increase. Dahlia is graduating this year Amelia, where has the time gone?" He asked his wife softly, his arm wrapped around his wife's slender waist. "I remember when she was little and sitting upon my knee, begging me to read her fairy tales, or check in the closet for monsters." He laughed softly. "It seems like she grew overnight. Umbrella has dominated most of our life Amy. I've been thinking of leave of absence for next summer, even possibly retiring once the Regenerate program is up and running to spend more time with Dahlia before she's off to college."

"Have you talked to Daddy about this?" Amy asked seriously, speaking of her father, Oswell Spencer the founder of Umbrella Corporation. "You know he needs you, and you're going to be helping me run the company until Dahlia's of age, and possibly even after that!" She spoke softly. "You know Dahlia has shown little to no interest in running Daddy's company, and he considers you to be the son he never had!"

"It should not come as that much of a surprise to him Amy. He's 70 years old. He's not some young spring chicken, and neither am I anymore." Timothy reminded his wife gently. " I've been working for Umbrella for nearly 35 years now, since I was Dahlia's age. Time off, retiring? It's to be expected at some point." Timothy continued. "Look around us, this, what we have isn't where I pictured myself when I was Dahlia's age."

"Tim," Amy murmured sadly, grasping his forearm gently. "I know it's not what you imagined, isn't it better?" Timothy studied his wife for a moment, seeing the hurt and confusion in her eyes.

"When I started at Umbrella, my family had been killed in a car crash. I was bitter. I hadn't spent any time with my parents for nearly five years because all they did was work. Dad was constantly late to major family events, and holidays if he could even bother to come home." Timothy paused, considering his next words. "I see me following in my father's foot steps, Amy." He confessed. "When I woke up today, I realized the only time we really spend with Dahlia is two days a week, for a few hours at a time, and usually they're interrupted. The money, the cars, the animals, the home... they're just bonuses, you and Dahlia, they're what matter most to me."

"Dahlia and I love you very much, she certainly understands that our lifestyle doesn't come easy and money doesn't grow on trees! Her private school alone costs more than the addition we built onto the stable and the in-ground pool put together!"

"Money isn't an issue for us Amy," Timothy sighed knowing that the conversation was about to turn to a lost cause. He'd loved his wife dearly, but she was always concerned about money. The next big deal for Umbrella, the latest fashions, keeping up social appearances with $10-$15,000 house parties where only the finest gourmet catering was served, making sure Dahlia had the best schooling, clothes, was seen at the right places as a rising socialite, despite her dabblings with animals. "Dahlia's school fund is well funded, she could pay for any school she wanted, private housing, and her supplies and still have extra money. Not to mention the trust fund we established. It's just sitting there and the numbers keep growing. If she was smart, she'd be set for life, she'd never have to work. If she lived frugally, her children could retire by 40."

"Ready to go Dad!" Dahlia returned back into the kitchen, having changed into her riding clothes and boots. "I can't wait to go see Sunny. We did so well together at the show last weekend Dad, you should have seen him. He sailed over the jumps like they were nothing!"

"Why don't you show me when we get out to the barn, you can take him over the practice course!" Timothy suggested while shooting his wife a pointed look. "We'll pick this up later Amy." Timothy suggested, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and left the home with his daughter, walking down the crushed gravel path that ran from the back door to the surrounding outbuildings and areas that held activities, like the swimming pool and tennis court, fountain and gardens, beside him Dahlia had caught him up on everything that he'd missed during the week, including his daughter telling him a tale about what happened to her best friend, Emily. Emily was the neighbors daughter, a corporate lawyer for Umbrella. Dahlia and Emily had been nearly inseparable as kids and were as close as siblings.

"Then, Emily fell off!" Dahlia finished her tale with a giggle, and he chuckled softly, pushing open the barn door where a half dozen lovely horses poked their heads over the stall doors, and greeted them with their normal tones, some more excited than others. They ranged in color from the deepest of honey golds, to the darkest shade of black, their coats glowing under the lights of the stall. Timothy leaned against the stall door, watching his daughter go about her grooming rituals in preparation for riding, brushing the horse, saddling him, making sure he was fit.

"I was thinking of taking some time off work, once you graduate." Timothy brought up, watching his daughter's reaction out of the corner of his eye, causing Dahlia to break her rhythm. "What do you think about that, and spending some time together before you go off to school? Have you given thought to what college you'd like to attend?"

Dahlia frowned and set the brush down in the bucket, running her hand down her horse's flanks gently. "Dad, I think it would be wonderfu-" Timothy's phone began ringing, and the pager in his pocket began going off simultaneously, and he fished the pager out of his pocket quickly, his face paling.

"Dahlia, I'm going have to put this off for now. I've been called into work. Its an emergency." He strode over, kissed the top of Dahlia's head and gave her a hug, fishing out a loose larger denomination bill from in his pants. "We should be back tonight, but if we're not, feel free to order a pizza." Timothy instructed, looking at the teen apologetically.

"It's fine." Dahlia murmured sadly, watching as her father strode up to the home, her arm draped over her pony's neck. "I'm used to it anyway." She murmured into thin air, the side of her face resting against her horse, Sunny's warm golden neck, and it was true. There was always something that had or would `]come up as long as her parents were both working for Umbrella.

Timothy half jogged and half ran up the driveway, his heart beating in his chest in a worrisome way. He'd never gotten such an urgent message from Umbrella before, and he knew that a code 'Black' was one of the worst things that could possibly be called at the facility he worked for. A code black, referred to the escape of a hard to contain, infectious biohazard. Timothy was no fool and he knew that not all of Umbrella Corporations funding came in legally, and there was a large portion of under the table funds that were brought in monthly by not so reputable people, sometimes even people who'd been known to have ties to terrorism in their countries.

Amelia met him at the door, with car keys in her hand. "I've heard it's bad Timothy." She murmured as the pair slid into the car and tore down the driveway. "I've heard it's completely escaped The Hive."

"That's impossible. We've employed top of the line security, have a biohazard strike team ready to go at a moments notice at anytime. It was probably a glitch in the system." Timothy tried to reassure himself, the scenery passing by in a blur as they wove in and out of the traffic at top speeds, heading to their office building which concealed an entrance to another underground facility that wasn't nearly as top of the line as the hive, and the projects were not nearly as deadly, it was mostly the manufacturing of small non-lethal weapons that packed a powerful punch.

When Timothy and Amelia made it to the office, they'd expected more people to be working then there actually were, but held their questions as they took their regular seats in the large board room, exchanging worried glances with the other staff as Oswell Spencer entered the room. "Just take care of it! I'm working on it from this end!" He snapped and hung up, taking his place at the head of the long rectangular table, pulling up a hologram in the middle of the table, it contained a basic map of the hive, a photo of the T-Virus vial, and photos of people, and animals who seemed to be effected by the virus.

Oswell cleared his throat. "Several years ago Timothy Case and Albert Wesker were assigned to Project Regeneration. There was a potential asset who had developed a useful virus that triggered cellular generation. It needed to be kept in check with an anti-virus. It helped a girl, who had been destined for a wheelchair walk without aid. We'd wanted this formula, this virus for our program, however this asset did not wish to join us willingly so we resorted to undermining his work, and threats, and finally the asset caved. Immediately we began working on an anti-aging serum and thought that the virus would be useful in our future endeavors into project Timeless/Regeneration, and it was true, we'd been showing remarkable results until we started to introduce it towards other projects. The results of mixing the virus into other projects turned into a disaster in most cases, some we managed to salvage and sell to other countries, but we were close to closing the program, and then last night, we had a problem." Oswell adjusted his tie, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"From what we were able to gather from the survivors, one of our security operatives had went rogue, released the virus into a lab- the virus escaped the lab through our ventilation system infecting everyone in the building. The Red Queen, our state of the art intelligence system, took what she believed to be necessary precautions and gassed every employee at the Hive. The virus, was inside the host but didn't have time to react until the employees were deceased- the virus had created tiny electrical impulses in the brain that re-animated the bodies, and in re-animation it was discovered that the infected are: aggressive, driven by their most basic of impulses, the need to feed, and can only be killed by damaging the brain." Oswell went onto explain, showing one of the employees, one he'd recognized as a lab technician, Samantha, he recalled biting into the neck of one of the biohazard containment unit members.

Without allowing members of the staff of the boardroom to react, Oswell continued. "The biohazard was we believed contained when two people, a member of our security staff and a civilian managed to escape, so before debriefing with them like protocol dictated, I sent in another team to retrieve the virus." A hint of red splashed upon Oswell's cheeks as he confessed. "The secondary team unsealed the hive and they were slaughtered by multiple generations of infected in various states, including bio organic weapons. We had experimented on animals with... what we believed to be undesirable results at the time."

"Approximately 50 of the reanimated staff, and several irregular and bio-weapons managed to escape. We have sent teams after them both, but there have already been cases appearing in the press of what's occurred, and people have been infected. Now that it's out, or best hope is to attempt to contain the virus but neither I, or the risk analysis department feel this will work. To get ahead of this outbreak, and it will be an outbreak, we've stories lined up to release to the press, and we will be working around the clock before this reaches a global scale. I'm afraid most of you will be unable to go home for a while until we can straighten this mess out. You men, and women are our best and brightest and I trust that together we can come up with a solution."

Dahlia sat giggling at the table with her friend Emily as they shared a pepperoni and pineapple pizza. Emily's father, a lawyer for Umbrella had been feeling under the weather, and unwanting to catch whatever it was her father had caught at work, Emily had asked to stay over with her mother's permission of course.

"Dad had been traveling all over, and when he went to go meet with someone," Emily lowered her voice "a homeless man covered in blood tried to bite him! Dad swears the man had to be on drugs, as he was very strong. What kind of man tries to eat someone else? It's just not natural. God only knows what Dad caught from the scratch he got. It was already looking some what infected when I left! It was red and disgusting."

Personally, Dahlia couldn't agree more, though she wasn't as quick to jump on the drugs route as her friend, though she assumed that they had of course played a part in the incident. "I'm glad you could stay over. Mom and Dad have been working constantly on some project for the company. They say it will be the next biggest thing, and have a longer shelf life than any other product that they've produced." Dahlia wrinkled her nose. "I doubt it will be ended by time we head to college this fall. Did you get accepted into Harvard?" Dahlia asked referring to her friend's first choice in schools.

"I'm still waiting. Dad said it should have been a cinch with the amount of money that he donated, but I had wanted to get in on my own efforts." Emily said pushing around a glob of melted cheese. Both girls were startled when Emily's phone rang. "It's Mom." Emily said before answering the cellphone. "Hi Mom." Dahlia could hear Emily's mother's voice, raised in concern but she couldn't make out the entire conversation. "What do you mean Daddy's at the hospital? What happened? Do you need me to come home? I could- I see, alright, in a couple hours then. Daddy's temperature had spiked dangerously, so the doctors prescribed him a drug. Mom would like me home tonight though." Emily grumbled. "Now I'm almost guaranteed to catch whatever Dad has."

The rest of the time that Emily was allowed to stay passed quickly to both girls' disappointment. "I'll see you in a couple days!"

AN: Okay that's it for chapter one, for now. I feel terrible for Dahlia, not one, but two absent workaholic parents. Timothy tries so hard to create time, but I guess working at a multibillion dollar corporation would take up a lot of time! Oswell is there trying his best to cover his tracks, and we can definitely see how Angela and Dahlia tie in together, though I haven't fully decided which way I'm hoping to take their relationship. It could really go in either direction honestly. I guess we all know what happens to Emily's dad, that's for sure. I'll be starting chapter two here tonight. I'm trying my best to layout exactly how the infection started, and spread, so these first few chapters are just background, though there will be a couple of events that are, or will be pretty important, especially with Dahlia's friend! I've generally been working from 6 am to 1 am so it hasn't left me with a lot of time to write right now so each chapter will probably take a couple of days, and the first few will be somewhat boring- mostly just the outbreak occurring, how it managed to spread so fast, things of that nature.


	3. Chapter Two

Kmart Revised (2016) Chapter 2

AN: I haven't disappeared and since I had the 4th off, I managed to finish up this chapter, and have started the next. The next chapter is the last one really discussing the virus, and chapter 4 will really be the start of K-Mart's story officially.

It had just turned 9 o'clock when Dahlia had finished up with her chores, heading towards the house when she heard the ATV flying up the driveway, and Kmart cast her gaze in the direction that it came from, her brow furrowed. Maybe Emily had forgotten something, Dahlia thought to herself, toeing off her shoes in the hallway after setting down the large five gallon pail just inside the door.

Emily stumbled off the ATV, fumbling with the key to turn it off, her complexion pale, and her hands shaking terribly as Dahlia met her on the front porch. "Em?" Dahlia question her friend who was stuttering, tears spilling from her eyes.

"M-my house, the blood... it was everywhere... my parents weren't there... something happened to them." Emily sobbed, and Dahlia herself went pale.

"Come in, we'll call the police and then go get Jo-"

"No need Dahlia, I heard the commotion, Betty is already on the phone, she thought someone broke in when the alarm to the front gate went off." Joe offered both girls a grim smile. "Better get indoors until we know what's going on and the police arrive." Joe spoke, the rifle once pointing at both girls, rested upon his shoulder as he ushered the pair in, his gaze scanning over the property.

"I'm going to go lock the gate, you stay there with Betty, and Dahlia call your father and let him know." Joe demanded as he climbed aboard the ATV, twisting the key and starting the machine up, speeding towards the gate to secure the property. Dahlia led her friend into the kitchen, herding her towards Betty.

"The police should be here in about ten minutes," Betty informed, sitting Emily on one of the barstools and fussing over her, "Dahlia please start the kettle, we'll give her some chamomile tea, it's very good for the nerves." Betty stated and gently wiped some of the tears from Emily's face. "We'll figure out what happened little one, we promise." Betty soothed softly, kissing the top of the girl's head.

Joe returned stone faced with the cops what seemed like hours later, when in reality it was only minutes, Emily had been wrapped in a comforter and was clinging to a mug of hot tea, crying softly still. "Miss, we have to ask where you were between the hours of 5 and 8 PM tonight." The officer questioned.

"She was here with Miss Case." Joe answered. "They were having dinner, the pizza was delivered at 5:37." Joe produced the recipt for the pizza delivery. Emily nodded.

"I went home a little after 8:30, I didn't really want to leave but mom wanted me back. She called me at 5. She said daddy wasn't feeling good. I didn't want to get sick." Emily sniffled as she answered the police officer's questions. "I drove my ATV to my home, and went inside. Nothing seemed out of place at first, so I started going upstairs," Emily's voice began waivering again. "T-there was blood everywhere. So much blood. I didn't hear any noise so I came back here." Emily began crying once again.

The police had asked a series of questions before going over to investigate Emily's family estate while Dahlia called her father, worried. "What is it Dahlia?" Timothy asked, sounding old and worrn down from the day's work.

"Something happened to Emily's parents. There was blood all over the place, too much." Dahlia murmured into the phone. "Someone tried to bite her dad earlier, and he'd been sick on and off all day so her mom called her home." Timothy inhaled sharply.

"Dahlia, I need you to put Joe on the phone and listen to EVERYTHING he says. This is VERY important." Timothy stressed, which is something he rarely did. Dahlia handed the phone over to Joe, frowning as she did so.

"It's dad." Dahlia said un-necessarily, as she passed the cordless phone to Joe, who inhaled deeply.

"Sir?" Joe questioned respectfully of his boss.

"I need you not to react Joe," Timothy began, shoving important documents into his briefcase. "From what Dahlia told me, I think Emily's father was infected by an escaped bio-hazard at Umbrella. The details have not been released however it's highly contagious, spread by blood, saliva, bites, scratches." Timothy listed off grabbing his wife by the wrist and dragging Amelia through the halls. "It's re-animated the dead, and quite frankly we have no way of controlling this. You need to lock down the property immeaditly. Tell them that a biohazard escaped inside the home, and that me and a support member are returning immeadiately if the police return, if they don't- expect the worst. We'll be home in 20 minutes." Timothy hung up, and raced to the thirteenth floor.

Timothy checked out a weapon from the security floor (floor 13) on his way out of the office building. "I think the disease... infection.. is spreading." Timothy corrected himself as he and his wife climbed into their vehicle, and sped towards their home. "Our neighbors were infected, the corporate lawyers." Timothy said softly. "Emily is at our house now. From what Joe said there was a lot of blood, and she went back to our place. The cops are there now so no chance of cover up without revealing our part."

"You had told Wesker it was a bad idea going in," Amelia had admitted to her husband.

"We're fucking with virus to create WEAPONS Amelia? How is it going to turn out to be a good idea?" Timothy's foot pushed down harder on the pedal, pushing the vehicle for even more speed, trees and landmarks normally distinguishable on their drives to and from work were a blur.

"We're buying property somewhere Amelia, and we're taking Dahlia and we're going to wait this bullshit out." Timothy demanded. "Your father started this mess he can clean it up. You saw how quickly he threw me to the other department heads in the meeting room. I was sent to retrieve a major medical break through that your father had turned into a virus that had brought in military profits." He hissed at his wife as he jabbed at the security system, pressing in his code.

"More than likely our neighbors are dead and turned-"

"We don't know that-" Amelia began.

"A homeless man tried biting him? That's either some good fucking drugs Umbrella should be checking out, or the virus got out and will be spreading more rapidly than we could have imagined. We're nearly 20 miles from the HIVE facility. How are we supposed to quarantine something that is already out in the world?" Timothy gestured around them.

"We already know the virus is capable of mutating, so how long until it mutates something that we're incapable of handling Amelia?" Timothy hissed and slammed the car door, rushing into the house and embracing his daughter. "We came as soon as we could Dahlia, have the police heard or seen anything? Are you okay Emily?" Timothy fired off questions while slipping Joe a file on the T-Virus and some of the projects they'd been working on.

Joe let out a low whistle. "This is what you think it is? How sure are you?" The slightly older man asked, scratching at his chin after the girls answered him, Emily more subdued, obviously going into shock with the events of the day.

"Would've went by there today and could have came into contact with one of them, gotten scratched." Timothy said, casting his gaze over to the girl. "I'm going to go find something in my office, I'll be back shortly," Timothy said and headed for the stairs. Joe sank into the seat beside the girls. The girls had tuned out the two men as soon as they'd seen the Umbrella Corp file- after all it was quite often that their fathers had brought home work with them, and they weren't supposed to know what the files contained.

"Why don't you two shower, and go get ready for bed, it's been a very long day, and when the police come back I'll talk to them- if they find anything at all, any clues, I will let you know?" Joe spoke softly to the two girls. Dahlia nodded and guided her friend towards the stairs as well, it wasn't hard to see that there was nothing that could be done until the police came back, and speaking of police, here they'd come up the driveway, flashlights focused on the ground, and as they stepped onto the porch Joe could see the grim expressions on their face.

"It looks like a slaughter house in there," One of the cops said finally when he saw that the girl wasn't in the kitchen. "I don't expect to find the girls parents alive but there were documents where you said they'd be, about Emily's guardianship should anything happen in the office. We're going to submit them to the state, there should be no problems." The second officer said. "We saw some blood heading towards the woods, but it's too dark to search and the K-9 units are unavailable- we'll begin the search at dawn." The first officer promised, "until then enjoy your night Sir." The two cops spun on their heels back to their car, talking quietly among themselves about what would need to be done in the morning, and Joe dragged a hand down his face.

Have the police came back yet? I know if anything were to happen that we are responsible for Emily's care."

"They did, they found lots of blood like Emily said there was but Emily's parents weren't there. It's too dark to search the woods, but they'll be back in the morning. " Timothy pulled a small plastic case out of his silver briefcase, his eyes dark with anger. "The paperwork regarding Emily's guardianship was in the office where it was supposed to be and they're going to submit it when they get in- there should be no problems."

"If any of that blood tests positive for the T-Virus, we won't be here come morning." Timothy said grimly, "I need you to come with me just in case," Timothy said, making sure the test was loaded with swabs. "This machine was created at the very beginning of our experimentation with the T-Virus. It indicates if the virus is present first and foremost, and if the virus is in check or not, and it's dark so I could use someone to watch my back."

Joe nodded and the pair set off in a jeep, towards the neighbors home in grim silence, the gun resting across Joe's lap while his eyes swept back and forth over the road and treelines, searching for anything that may have been out of place.

"We'll figure it out Tim, no matter what."


End file.
